‘The fear that you might die.’
Maybe that was the essence of a Ghost Story.
Recently, I had even experienced a government-managed disaster that, in theory, could only be cleared if someone died.
So that meant I had gotten very used to the explanation, “People usually die in Ghost Stories,” and had become a little numb to it too.
Because I had somehow managed to squeeze my way through the eye of a needle.
-Let’s start by looking for a way out, no matter how insane this is.
The past few months had been enough time for that to become my basic way of thinking.
But….
“Originally, they all disappeared. Only one corpse came back, with its head cut off.”
“…….”
“But after repeating it a few times, someone got lucky and came back alive. Then they built up the manual based on that person’s testimony.”
That was the standard process for completing an exploration manual for a high-grade Darkness.
“But no matter what they did, there was one thing they absolutely couldn’t change.”
Namely….
“One death.”
“…….”
“Who gets picked by the mechanism? There isn’t one. No logic, either. It’s literally random. They’ve run it thirty-seven times already, but no matter what equipment you wear or what item you bring, it has zero influence.”
“…….”
“It’s designated the instant you enter, too, so there’s no way to prepare or respond.”
To think I’d end up in a situation like this.
Quite literally by luck, I was going to die instantly with a one-in-twelve chance.
…Or an absurd one-in-three chance if the whole three-person group was counted.
Someone just dies.
“You might be thinking, why are they putting someone competent like me in when they could just send in bastards who deserve to die, but….”
“No.”
“Really? I thought of it.”
“…….”
“You can’t help it…. But this damned urban legend says it’ll…